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So I've played the new Crysis Remastered and thought I would open up a thread for comparing and contrasting current games using RT and see what opinions people have on which one looks the best at this current time (no future games should be compared unless they have been released). This thread is purely subjective although any objective tech comments are welcome.
Out of the 4 games that use RTX heavily. Here's my take.
Crysis: Remastered - best use of GI/AO so far. It's even more impressive that the GI solution is software based. This bodes well for games that may leverage this kind of tech. UE5 is probably very close to this implementation and at first, I was skeptical but seeing as though the results are so stunning, I'll take it. The 8k textures are pretty much the best quality textures I've seen to date. This isn't suprising as most games don't support 8k. But seeing them look so detailed up close is a marvel to look at. No PBR - yuck. No volume clouds. RT reflections look clean and accurate.
Metro: Exodus - Excellent use of area lights (DLC only). I sincerely hope this RT technique will find it's way to Cyberpunk because it looks amazing. GI solution is crude and not very good. Low res textures. OK PBR, but really ugly art direction. No RT reflections.
Control - Best use of AO and contact shadows for small objects. OK use of GI/AO but very limited in scope as there is only indoors rendering. Low res textures. Great use of volume fog. Pretty ugly art direction. RT reflections look clean and accurate.
Battlefield 5 - Typical current gen engine with just RT reflections.
Shadow of the Tomb Raider - Current gen with RT shadows. Still using baked lighting.
WINNER: Crysis: Remastered. It's the top dog right now. While it has it's shortcomings with deleted graphics features like volume clouds, old style POM, and other things like physics, etc.. there is no denying that Crytek attacked the right problems to get that extra boost in visuals. Coupled with excellent art direction, it's not hard to beat the other games in visuals.
Let's see if Cyberpunk 2077 can take the crown in November.
UPDATE:
People wanted to see screenshots of what I am talking about in Crysis Remastered. Here you go:
This first pic is a true offline render of path traced GI and an area light that's a square. Notice how the highlight on the sphere is a square. This implementation was approximated in Metro: Exodus with their RT emissive lights and just what Cyberpunk needs. Now notice the red hue that is coloring the shaded backside of the sphere. This is what we look for when a game uses good GI approximation. Crysis does it the most accurate that I've seen.
Now, look at Crysis colors when there is no direct sunlight and only GI:
Here the ground is shaded green tint and you can see no HALO artifacts that plague the screenspace AO techniques, yet the weapons/leaves look grounded.
High res 8k textures! A FPS never looked this good up close.
Self-shadowing of the character and the leaves have excellent resolution not exhibiting any artifacts.
A broad view of the foliage and trees all in shadow and how none of them are too dark due to the great approximation of the GI
Great shot here with light reflecting off the tower evenly. Great atmospheric lighting with mia scattering.
Here's a shot at how AO is for free with GI and light doesn't bleed through under the jeep. Also take note of the reflection of the red dot sight under the jeep as well.
Beautiful natural look to seeing inside a forest. Nothing looks better yet.
So I've played the new Crysis Remastered and thought I would open up a thread for comparing and contrasting current games using RT and see what opinions people have on which one looks the best at this current time (no future games should be compared unless they have been released). This thread is purely subjective although any objective tech comments are welcome.
Out of the 4 games that use RTX heavily. Here's my take.
Crysis: Remastered - best use of GI/AO so far. It's even more impressive that the GI solution is software based. This bodes well for games that may leverage this kind of tech. UE5 is probably very close to this implementation and at first, I was skeptical but seeing as though the results are so stunning, I'll take it. The 8k textures are pretty much the best quality textures I've seen to date. This isn't suprising as most games don't support 8k. But seeing them look so detailed up close is a marvel to look at. No PBR - yuck. No volume clouds. RT reflections look clean and accurate.
Metro: Exodus - Excellent use of area lights (DLC only). I sincerely hope this RT technique will find it's way to Cyberpunk because it looks amazing. GI solution is crude and not very good. Low res textures. OK PBR, but really ugly art direction. No RT reflections.
Control - Best use of AO and contact shadows for small objects. OK use of GI/AO but very limited in scope as there is only indoors rendering. Low res textures. Great use of volume fog. Pretty ugly art direction. RT reflections look clean and accurate.
Battlefield 5 - Typical current gen engine with just RT reflections.
Shadow of the Tomb Raider - Current gen with RT shadows. Still using baked lighting.
WINNER: Crysis: Remastered. It's the top dog right now. While it has it's shortcomings with deleted graphics features like volume clouds, old style POM, and other things like physics, etc.. there is no denying that Crytek attacked the right problems to get that extra boost in visuals. Coupled with excellent art direction, it's not hard to beat the other games in visuals.
Let's see if Cyberpunk 2077 can take the crown in November.
UPDATE:
People wanted to see screenshots of what I am talking about in Crysis Remastered. Here you go:
This first pic is a true offline render of path traced GI and an area light that's a square. Notice how the highlight on the sphere is a square. This implementation was approximated in Metro: Exodus with their RT emissive lights and just what Cyberpunk needs. Now notice the red hue that is coloring the shaded backside of the sphere. This is what we look for when a game uses good GI approximation. Crysis does it the most accurate that I've seen.
Now, look at Crysis colors when there is no direct sunlight and only GI:
Here the ground is shaded green tint and you can see no HALO artifacts that plague the screenspace AO techniques, yet the weapons/leaves look grounded.
High res 8k textures! A FPS never looked this good up close.
Self-shadowing of the character and the leaves have excellent resolution not exhibiting any artifacts.
A broad view of the foliage and trees all in shadow and how none of them are too dark due to the great approximation of the GI
Great shot here with light reflecting off the tower evenly. Great atmospheric lighting with mia scattering.
Here's a shot at how AO is for free with GI and light doesn't bleed through under the jeep. Also take note of the reflection of the red dot sight under the jeep as well.
Beautiful natural look to seeing inside a forest. Nothing looks better yet.
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